Search form

Search form

John V. Hanford, the Bush administration's top official for religious freedom issues, objected to French President Jacques Chirac's support of a law banning Muslim head scarves and other large religious symbols from public schools. Hanford said such displays reflect the freedom of all persons to practice their religion peacefully, a basic right which should be protected.

Related Summaries

Illinois' annual school report card is so fraught with errors that no meaningful analysis of the data can be drawn, according to an analysis by the Chicago Tribune. Most of the errors, which involve about 75% of the state's schools, resulted when schools misidentified students' ethnic background, income level, special education status or English language skills.

Gov. Ed Rendell has negotiated a tentative deal with lawmakers to boost the state income tax from 2.8% to 3.07% to help close a budget gap and fund new education initiatives. During the budget impasse, some districts were forced to borrow money after the state skipped school aid payments in August and October.

The names of students with good grades can be publicly disseminated only with a parent's permission, according to a Tennessee law. Now that the districts are reminding principals of the law's provisions, honor rolls and academic pep-rallies are being discontinued.

The high cost of treatment for autistic children, which can run as much as $60,000 a year per child, coupled with a burgeoning special education population are challenging cash-strapped districts in California. In Sacramento's Elk Grove Unified School District, the number of children with autism has risen 273% in the past six years.

In Rockdale County, Ga., parents of middle- and high-school students are signing up for the "iParent" program, which can alert parents to student absences from classes and provide instant, online access to teachers' grade books. One student says the threat of her parents finding out about a bad grade or a cut class is keeping her from shirking her assignments.